IDEA: These forums..

[Borje Hagsten]

A new version of PB seems to be on the way. Why not compile these
forums into a bunch of text files and create a little program that
enables people to search for answers without having to be connected
to the Internet?

It would fit well into a CD and definitely improve the value of
PB - especially for new users, but also for us "old-timers". If
you don't feel you have the time to do it, maybe you could just
collect all postings in a couple of text files, zip them together
and tell us where we can download them from. I would gladly spend
a couple of hours on creating a search&find -program for them..

LINKS - and this is for other PB users: If you have a web-site and
haven't done it yet - then please consider adding a link to PB's
site. Remember that the more compilers PB can sell, the more money
they can pour into improvements and the more we all will gain from
it in the end.

(and no, I don't work for PB - I'm just a very pleased user with a
constant flow of crazy ideas in my head.)

[Knuth Konrad]

Originally posted by Borje Hagsten:

LINKS - and this is for other PB users: If you have a web-site and
haven't done it yet - then please consider adding a link to PB's
site. Remember that the more compilers PB can sell, the more money
they can pour into improvements and the more we all will gain from
it in the end.

Already did that (for sure). And I did try to compile a collection of local (german) pages an my site as well.
Another big favor PB users can do for other PB users: If you find a third party product that can be used with PB and is not listed on this page or PB is not listed in the supported languages list of the product, tell that company about PB. I've done so with Ideal Software's Virtual Print Engine. I translated the C/Paccal Headers to PB and translatet the two VB sample applications. PowerBASIC is now mentioned in the list of supported languages. Ideal Software were very impressed by PB: "Wow, this language desrves the name 'Power'!".

Knuth

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http://www.softAware.de

[E B Knoppert]

what do you mean by: it seems a new PB version.... ?

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[Borje Hagsten]

Just a gut feeling I have E B, nothing else..

(probably more like whishful thinking, but my gut feelings have
never been wrong before in my 45 years on earth, so I trust them
to be right this time too..)


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[Lance Edmonds]

That is kind of like predicting that tomorrow is another day, or that next month will be July, or that the day after Saturday is Sunday, or...

BTW, if we were to tell you what we were up to before we were ready, we'd have to shoot you to keep you quiet!

I'm not teasing you too much, am I? 8-)



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Lance
PowerBASIC Support
mailto:[email protected][email protected]</A>

[Borje Hagsten]

> I'm not teasing you too much, am I? 8-)

Yeah, you are. Go ahead and shoot - I want to know what you're
up to..

(Silly discussion, I know. Better to focus on writing code and
building new samples for the existing compiler instead.)


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[Borje Hagsten]

BTW - to return to the original posting: Would it be possible to
collect all postings to these forums in a bunch of text files?
Together with a little "search and find" program, they would be
an exellent source of info for all PB users - escially for those
of us who has to pay per minute online and therefore, due to slow
connections, often can't make use of this "knowledge database" as
much as we would like to.

The offer still stands - I'd gladly spend a couple of hours on
writing the program for it, but I'll need these forums in text
file format to be able to do it.


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[Lance Edmonds]

While it sounds like a good idea - we have discussed it ourselves - there are some problems associated with actually doing it. First there is editing - it would have to exclude any misinformation.

Next is the expectation of customers and BBS members. For example, although all the messages in the BBS become the property of PowerBASIC, publishing them may cause prople to object to their messages being included. As there are around 30,000 messages on the BBS, getting the appropriate "clearances" and/or "releases" is not a small task.

There are other issues too, such as the likelyhood of an expectation of some level of Tech Support for non-working code or code that only works on some versions of PowerBASIC, or... from a logistics point of view, the task is "difficult" to say the least.

As it stands, everyone has free access to this data, and it it 100% up to date - if a CD was available, it would be out of date next week.

Anyway, you get my drift... the concept sounds great on paper, implementation is likely to be hazardous!

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Lance
PowerBASIC Support
mailto:[email protected][email protected]</A>

[Eric Pearson]

> if we were to tell you (...) we'd have to shoot you

Reminds me... My brother, who used to be in military intelligence, was in a seminar where that line was used by the seminar leader. Somebody in the back of the room answered "Ok... Then tell my wife."

-- Eric


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Perfect Sync: Perfect Sync Development Tools
Email: mailto:[email protected][email protected]</A>

[Gregery D Engle]

Lance,

I wish you guys would allow people to view this website in offline mode. I've tried to put these fourms in offline mode but everytime it tries to sync it finds the ROBOTS.TXT file and stops. I 100% understand that you guys can't compile all the emails but I would love to be able to make an offline webpage for my use. Just some tid-bits for ya.



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-Greg

[E B Knoppert]

About files

Lance, is it possible to zip the RFC docs on ftp site?
This is mainly the reason that i don't read them.

Thanks,


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[Tom Hanlin]

Greg, we'll look into it.

E B, likewise.

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Tom Hanlin
PowerBASIC Staff

[Borje Hagsten]

Okay, I understand. Too bad, because there are days when it takes
more than a minute for each page to load here. Our trans-atlantic
connections are really slow sometimes. I have a 56K modem, but
sometimes only seem to get 56 bps out of it, if you know what I
mean. An off-line database with the contents of these forums
would have many mm's of nails on such days..

It doesn't really matter that the contents is a bit old or even
incorrect, because what we usually need is a pointer in the right
direction, a pointer that often can to be found here.

Back to the drawing-board again. Time for new ideas to pop up..


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[Gregery D Engle]

Originally posted by Borje Hagsten:

It doesn't really matter that the contents is a bit old or even
incorrect, because what we usually need is a pointer in the right
direction, a pointer that often can to be found here.

I agree with you 100% I have done many onsight projects and that don't have internet or I felt that it would be unethical to use internet for research. I have brought this subject up before and everyone likes the idea but going on paper is another story. I would love to be able to compile a little CD which all the research I need



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-Greg

[K Peel]

Isn't there a way to make a 'carbon copy' of all the information on this forum and view it offline on our PC's, as thats all that is required, or doesn't the UBB software allow this?

Regards,

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Kev G Peel
KGP Software
Bridgwater, UK.
mailto:[email protected][email protected]</A>

[Semen Matusovski]

For myself I solved a question with off-line by following way

[removed by administrator. please see message with respect to robots]

[Borje Hagsten]

He he, you're cool, Semen. This reminds me of my days in the
military service. I was a radio-operator and they thaught us
everything about how to set up communications, break into
telephone switches, etc.

Of course we used these knowledges to get ourselves completely
illegal, but free, telephone connections - wich was worth a lot
of money, because many of the guys had to call home through long
distance calls. Most of us even managed to get ourselves free
phone lines back home..

Anyway, the question is - even if we can do it, will PB approve
of this, or what? Don't want to upset anyone, do we?


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[Lance Edmonds]

as of this precise moment, we have no objection to this method (be warned that 30,000-odd messages is a lot of traffic to download!), but this decision is open for review at any time.

please note that the "harvesting" of personal information or email addresses is not permitted. nor is redistribution permitted. for more information on this, please review

if performance of the bbs is arbitarily affected by the over-use of this "blind" download technique, then we reserve the right to review our decision. as always, powerbasic, inc. reserves the right to change the rules, grant or restrict access, and limit content at anytime.

thanks folks, and please play fair!



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lance
powerbasic support
mailto:[email protected][email protected]</a>

[Jim Padgett]

Why doesn't just one person download them, zip them and put them up on PowerBasic's FTP site say once a month or so?

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[Gregery D Engle]

Originally posted by Jim Padgett:
Why doesn't just one person download them, zip them and put them up on PowerBasic's FTP site say once a month or so?

How about I use the full power of my cable modem and make monthly CDs with all the content of whats on this BBS and then I sell it for $20.00 a month (just joking lance!)

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-Greg